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Thursday, September 29, 2022

Mets to call up No. 1 prospect in baseball

Ahead of their pivotal series against the Braves, the Mets are expected to add a bat they hope will be a big part of their future. The club is set to call up baseball’s No. 1 overall prospect, Francisco Álvarez, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The team has not confirmed the move.

Álvarez was tearing it up at Double-A Binghamton with 18 homers in 67 games before getting the call to Triple-A, where he was starting to get comfortable before suffering a right ankle injury. But the Mets saw enough when he returned from the injury to give him a shot with a week to go in the season and in the middle of a pennant race with no margin for error.

The 20-year-old catcher could see time as the designated hitter, where the Mets have relied on Darin Ruf against left-handed pitching.

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: September 29, 2022 at 10:49 PM | 21 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
  Tags: francisco alvarez, mets

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   1. Lassus Posted: September 29, 2022 at 11:19 PM (#6098418)
I have been totally waiting for Fernando Martinez to show his stuff. Bring it!
   2. Howie Menckel Posted: September 29, 2022 at 11:28 PM (#6098419)
Buck was quite cagey today when a WFAN radio host begged him not to start Ruf vs Braves and Fried on Friday.

Rookie Vientos has some pop but has struggled in a Sept audition. maybe we have "The Natural" here.....

Nido has been shockingly respectable hitting in the past month, and even McCann has fogged a mirror at times. both know what they are doing defensively, and a 20-year-old kid ain't catching the Mets vets SPs in the postseason unless he is utterly raking - and maybe not even then.
   3. cHiEf iMpaCt oFfiCEr JE Posted: September 29, 2022 at 11:58 PM (#6098425)
Talk about debuting under no pressure...
   4. Russlan is not Russian Posted: September 30, 2022 at 01:37 AM (#6098435)
I have been totally waiting for Fernando Martinez to show his stuff. Bring it!

I think you mean Francisco Pena.
   5. JimMusComp misses old primer... Posted: September 30, 2022 at 07:46 AM (#6098437)
Talk about debuting under no pressure...


That's what I thought too....hope he doesn't go 0 for the week and then have trouble shaking it off next year....we could be looking at another Rick Ankle situation. (knock on wood)
   6. Banta Posted: September 30, 2022 at 07:54 AM (#6098439)
Are you guys talking about The Fernanchise?

While I’m here, I might as well stake a claim for Alvarez’s nickname. The Franchisco? Eh.

Nido has been more than respectable in September: 333/340/563 and 290/319/449 in the second half. For all my whining at the trade deadline, catcher hasn’t been too bad and probably wouldn’t have gotten much of an upgrade to this point (McCann is still sub-500 OPS).

I can still complain about not just letting JD Davis keep the DH spot though. He’s been good for 289/386/544 since traded and now has his season OPS+ at 121, within his career norms. Mets have not gotten good results out of their hydra there, some might call it pretty Ruf. I know it’s shocking that the hitter with the best career out of the bunch performed the best, but who doesn’t like pointless reshuffling trades so you appear to be doing something?
   7. KronicFatigue Posted: September 30, 2022 at 08:37 AM (#6098442)
Isn't it all moot if/when Marte comes back? One of the infielders (McNeil, Escobar, Guilmore) will just DH. Waste of good defense, and an injury will probably result in the loss of the DH, but those guys are all hitting
   8. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 30, 2022 at 11:00 AM (#6098450)
Talk about debuting under no pressure...



That's what I thought too....hope he doesn't go 0 for the week and then have trouble shaking it off next year....we could be looking at another Rick Ankle situation. (knock on wood)


If you were going to do this, why didn't they bring him up a few games earlier to at least get his feet wet before the big showdown on hostile turf?
   9. Adam Starblind Posted: September 30, 2022 at 11:19 AM (#6098454)
Is he eligible for the postseason? How does that work?
   10. What did Billy Ripken have against ElRoy Face? Posted: September 30, 2022 at 11:24 AM (#6098458)
He is, according to TFA. I would assume that’s because he was already on the 40-man?
   11. Howie Menckel Posted: September 30, 2022 at 12:05 PM (#6098467)
Marte is OUT for the Braves series and I'm not sure if/when he returns at all (broken finger), alas
   12. tonywagner Posted: September 30, 2022 at 01:39 PM (#6098480)
Is he eligible for the postseason? How does that work?


From MLB Trade Rumors:

Álvarez’s promotion for such important regular season games raises the possibility he’ll also crack the postseason roster. Only players on a team’s 40-man roster by September 1 are automatically eligible to partake in the playoffs. However, players in an organization but not on the 40-man by September 1 can be added to a playoff roster in place of someone on the injured list via petition to the commissioner’s office. That situation is fairly common every postseason, so the Mets shouldn’t have much issue getting Álvarez onto the playoff roster if they desire.
   13. JJ1986 Posted: September 30, 2022 at 01:46 PM (#6098482)
However, players in an organization but not on the 40-man by September 1 can be added to a playoff roster in place of someone on the injured list via petition to the commissioner’s office.
Is it still the case that pitchers have to replace pitchers and position players have to replace position players?
   14. The Duke Posted: September 30, 2022 at 02:05 PM (#6098486)
It's very odd timing. Is one of the Mets catchers hurt but not IL'd? Do they want to carry three catchers for some reason ? Is his hitting so good that he's being called up as a pinch hitter ?
   15. Walt Davis Posted: September 30, 2022 at 03:24 PM (#6098498)
His bat is considered ready and he will DH. Besides carrying 3 Cs on the 28-man Sept roster is pretty common (Cubs have had 3 since at least Gomes returned from the IL) and dropping to 12 pitchers for the playoffs wouldn't be unheard of. The timing's only "odd" because he got hurt in late Aug and missed three weeks, He probably would have been up in early-mid Sept (the AAA season seems to run late this year) without the injury, instead they gave him another couple of weeks to get tuned up. Since his return he's hit 362/483/596 which is the sort of thing that will get you promoted to the big leagues.

This sort of thing used to happen "all the time" before teams got fixated on delaying service time. With the new rules, there's not much point in the Mets holding him back until next season.
   16. tonywagner Posted: September 30, 2022 at 04:15 PM (#6098504)
Is it still the case that pitchers have to replace pitchers and position players have to replace position players?

Only if you make the injury replacement during a postseason series. So a pitcher who gets hurt in game 1 of a series could only be replaced by a pitcher for game 2 (and the injured pitcher would have to sit out the following series too).

But before the postseason or between series, Alvarez could take the postseason eligible spot of any injured player or pitcher.
   17. Walt Davis Posted: September 30, 2022 at 05:06 PM (#6098512)
Is the 13-pitcher limit in effect for the postseason?
   18. tonywagner Posted: September 30, 2022 at 08:18 PM (#6098538)
Is the 13-pitcher limit in effect for the postseason?


Yes.
   19. Howie Menckel Posted: September 30, 2022 at 09:09 PM (#6098543)
Alvarez didn't even go the bullpen today to warm up as a C.

the Mets best Ps are age 37, 34, 33, 29, 35 and 28, 36, 32. no 'day care' seems likely.

he hit a rocket to 3B on the first pitch he saw that Riley deftly one-hopped into a DP.

Ruf has been a disaster and 24-yr-old OF slugger callup Vientos has looked overmatched this month.

Alvarez is the Mets DH vs LHP now.
   20. cHiEf iMpaCt oFfiCEr JE Posted: October 01, 2022 at 09:56 PM (#6098675)
Alvarez is the Mets DH vs LHP now.
Meanwhile, he looks lost at sea against righties.
   21. KronicFatigue Posted: October 02, 2022 at 10:14 AM (#6098720)
Alvarez is the Mets DH vs LHP now.
Meanwhile, he looks lost at sea against righties.


Meanwhile^2, the Mets traded for a DH against righties, who was doing pretty well in that role, but Alvarez wasn't pinch hit for.

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